Matthew Andrews on joining Auroville International USA
Sunday • September 29
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Article from Auroville Today
Issue #422, September 2024
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I first visited Auroville in 2000 as a student in the Living Routes programme. After I came home, Auroville lived inside me. I dreamed about it and imagined myself there, but I didn’t go back for 13 years. In 2013 I had a sudden inner calling, an immediate need to be there and touch the earth, eat the food, drink the water, and breathe the air. I saw The Mother’s face and felt her presence calling me.
When I came home from that trip, it was like a seed that had been lying dormant inside me woke up. I needed to be connected to Auroville. I tracked down Julian Lines and spent several months trying to figure out what AVI USA was and how to get involved. I eventually had a phone meeting with Bryan Walton, who was President of the board at the time, and he invited me to join. I still didn’t really know what AVI USA was, but it was connected to Auroville and that’s all that mattered to me.
When I joined the board, I was the youngest by a decade and the next youngest was called “Baby Binah”. If she was a baby then what was I? This was before Zoom, and I sat on the phone month after month listening to Jack Alexander and Jeanne Korstange telling stories about Auroville in the 1970s, a place I had never known, feeling like I was crashing someone else’s family reunion. I had no reason to continue. I didn’t even want to. But I did, year after year.
The older board members welcomed my inputs, but it was a challenge to get traction on any specific projects. I led a strategic planning process that resulted in some committees being formed to work on specific projects, but the projects fizzled out and the committees got discouraged. We were all volunteers with other jobs, family obligations, and limited time to give. We had big aspirations, but no one had the time to really follow through, myself included. It was frustrating.
In 2019, the person who had been board President decided to step down. Everyone kind of looked around, and I was the only one who had never held the role. Someone asked me if I would take it, and I said ‘no’. It didn’t make sense to me to sign my name and take responsibility for something that I wasn’t really engaged with. I had hoped that by joining the board I would be able to contribute something meaningful to Auroville, but I wasn’t doing that and I didn’t see that changing. I decided at that moment to quit the board.
I don’t remember how the conversation flowed. What I know is that as soon as I decided to quit, I was embraced by a presence that was full of light and hope. It was like The Mother was saying “No, it’s not time for you to go. Take the role and don’t worry.” Somehow by the end of the meeting I had assented and the board voted and I was the President. Now I had no one else to blame for my frustration and lack of direction, but I also didn’t know what to do to solve it.
An Opportunity to Grow
A year later, as COVID was spreading around the world and many people were locked inside their houses, someone who had never donated to AVI USA before contacted us and made a proposal. This is not usually the way it goes – usually the organisation proposes something to the donor. The donor then considers whether to invest in the idea. In this case, it was the other way around. The donor had the idea and we had to decide whether to take it up.
This donor proposed to financially invest in the improvement of AVI USA’s infrastructure so the organisation could raise and send more funds to Auroville. Their ultimate vision was to help the accumulated gifts, beauty and wisdom of Auroville, infused with Mother’s spiritual grace, to flow out into the broader world. They wanted to light a spark, build a container, and see if it could grow into an engine.
At the time, my wife Corinne and I were facing the closing of our yoga studio because of COVID and trying to decide what to do next. It was a synchronistic moment. I had a decade of experience in nonprofit leadership, a profound love for Auroville and commitment to serving the Mother, and I needed a job.
This yoga does not have a clear path. In a way, each of us is our own path. When we find our path, we find ourselves. And this finding is often a nonlinear affair, full of unexpected plot twists and surprises.
I didn’t want to run a nonprofit. I knew how much work it would be and I wanted to pursue music and write a book. But I couldn’t walk away from the chance to serve The Mother and Auroville. Binah felt the same mix of reluctance and adventure. We decided to take on the challenge.
We soon realised that one of the biggest challenges would be threading the needle between three completely independent and sometimes mutually contradictory bureaucracies: the one governing US non profit organisations, the one governing foreign funds received in India, and the one governing Auroville. And we also had to manage the expectations and aspirations of the donor, the AVI USA board, and Aurovilians. It was a dance…that sometimes required juggling while dancing…and sometimes we had to continue dancing and juggling through a hailstorm or an earthquake.
Digging In
In 2020, India’s COVID lockdowns were in the news, and we understood from the Auroville Budget Coordination Committee (BCC) that the economy was facing challenges. We started by developing a fundraising system that could accept donations from around the world and keep track of donor info. It sounds simple, but this was a lot of work – researching software products, consolidating all of AVI USA’s disparate contact lists, integrating the donor database with the fundraising platform and the email platform, writing monthly newsletters, and revamping the website.
Between March of 2020, when COVID first emerged, and the end of 2021, we sent over $770,000 to Auroville. We worked closely with the BCC and project leaders to understand the needs and direct the funds accordingly. And we collaborated on the creation of MERA – Management of Emergency Response in Auroville – which distributed over $100,000 to Auroville units specifically for covering the payroll for workers during COVID. This had an impact on Auroville projects, but also on the local workers who depend on their jobs to feed their families.
In December of 2021, a conflict that had been simmering in Auroville for decades erupted. Auroville Today has done a good job of covering the conflict’s various iterations, dimensions and implications, personal and collective, so I won’t repeat them here. All AVI USA board members, myself included, were personally shaken by the emergence of this conflict and the subsequent polarisation and enmity that emerged in the community.
There was a lot of anger, resentment, mistrust, and judgment in the air, and in the midst of this we decided to anchor ourselves in love and respect. This didn’t always make it clear what to do or how to respond to any given situation, but it was a guiding principle that we’ve held to, and it has defined our work.
Focus on the projects
At some point, our lawyers found an amendment that had been made to AVI USA’s founding documents in the 1970s. It changed the language of the organisation’s purpose from “to support the Auroville project in India” to “to support projects in Auroville in India”. None of us on the board were aware of this amendment, and though subtle it is also quite clear. It surfaced just as we were seeing success in helping projects develop their fundraising capacity. So it underscored the sense that focusing on supporting the projects was the way to go.
For the past few years we have held a Matching Donation Campaign during December. We work all year to collect a pool of matching funds, and then use them to double every donation that we receive for an Auroville project in December. Last year we raised over $210k for projects during the campaign, and motivated hundreds of donors to support the projects they love.
Ioana joined our small team in 2022, after a short period of volunteering. She focuses on connecting projects with our fundraising tools and providing them with the latest technology to support their fundraising efforts. She coaches them in using our platforms and is generally available 24/7 to answer our Auroville partners’ questions. She is the editor of our eConnect newsletter, always seeking news and updates to help connect donors and supporters to what is most relevant and valuable in Auroville. She gave a new face to our 2023 Matching Campaign, helping both AVI USA and Auroville projects almost double our Matching Campaign fundraising effort from the previous year.
Binah focusses on donor development. She loves people and her warmth and ability to listen have guided her relationship-building work. She also networks and develops partnerships with other funders, like Rotary International, which just approved a grant for EcoFemme for $36,000, and the India Development and Relief Fund, which doubles donations channeled through AVI USA to select projects that align with their interest areas.
We could measure our progress in dollars sent to Auroville, but I am also always looking for feedback from the projects themselves. If we’re actually helping them, it should be obvious to them. I recently asked Kathy from EcoFemme how AVI USA has impacted their work over the past few years. She responded that we are their “go-to allies and advisors in our fundraising work. Matthew has been especially helpful as a dialogue partner to talk things over and help hone certain pitch elements for grant applications we have been working on. He has also set up impactful sessions which provided sound advice on how to build and nurture ongoing relationships with donors. I feel incredibly grateful to the competent AVI USA team and really well supported.”
Angelika from Deepam School stressed how important it is to get feedback and encouragement from someone who knows Auroville well, but has some distance from the day-to-day reality.
“Especially in the present situation where things are so uncertain and we don’t know what new challenges tomorrow will bring, AVI USA’s reliable support and professional feedback means a lot to us. I can sense their love and deep connection for Auroville, and, aside from getting new contacts with donors that I wouldn’t have met on my own, I always get new ideas and inspirations when we talk.”
And Sriman from Yuvabe wrote that “Over the past two years, AVI USA has mentored our team and provided crucial support across the fundraising process. From sharing practical ideas to planning and strategizing for campaigns, the personal touch and innovative thinking have been instrumental in our growth and success. We deeply appreciate their unwavering support and mentorship.”
In addition to supporting projects, we also support our donors. Most donors don’t have the capacity to vet and monitor the projects they donate to. AVI USA assumes responsibility for the proper use of funds and the achievement of intended impacts. We vet projects, collect reports and budgets, and conduct site visits. Binah has been specifically speaking to donors who want to leave a donation to Auroville in their will or estate plan. She helps them ensure their legal documents are set up so we can carry out their wishes after they’ve departed from this world.
Multiplying impact
Between 2020 and 2023, AVI USA sent three times as much money to Auroville as we did between 2016 and 2019. We’ve been able to do this because of the creative and forward thinking invitation that one donor offered us. This donor continues to support a large portion of our operational budget, and has recently been joined by others who have felt similarly inspired to invest in Auroville. We see these investments as multipliers – whatever someone contributes, we’re committed to multiplying the output and the positive impact on projects in Auroville.
On a personal level, I have tended to compartmentalise my spiritual practice and inner life from my outer work. I take seriously Sri Aurobindo’s encouragement to draw all of life into one yoga, leaving nothing apart. Working for Auroville has been an incredible gift in this sense. When I step back and reflect on it, it’s hard to believe that I’ve been given such an amazing opportunity to unite my heart, my mind, and my hands. And I try to live up to the opportunity by approaching the work with sincerity, integrity, and faith in the Divine.
AVI USA board members don’t all agree with each other all the time. But we are committed to respect, to care for each other, to honesty, and integrity. We strive to do what we feel is in alignment with the spirit of Auroville. And we remain focused on supporting the projects and their work to channel this spirit into material life.
Auroville is a unique and beautiful experiment. It’s a daring aspiration that rejects the cynicism and hopelessness that pervade our modern discourse. Its very existence is a victory for light and truth. All the decisions we make and all the actions we take are rooted in our belief in Auroville’s inherent value and our intention to nourish its future.
Would you like to join our efforts? It doesn’t matter where in the world you live or what your background or skill set might be – we are always looking for opportunities to collaborate with people who love Auroville. Please reach out at info@aviusa.org.
Matthew Andrews